^#smrgSAHAF High-Tech Conception: A Comprehensive Handbook For Consumers -

Five million Americans want children but cannot conceive. One million couples seek infertility treatment every year, almost always without prior knowledge of the physical, emotional, and financial costs of high-tech conception (as a rule it is not covered by insurance), and without any way to judge the hard-sell come-ons of what is now a $2-billion, for-profit, unregulated industry that preys on their desperate hopes by promising outcomes that are all too rarely successful. This authoritative, lucid, balanced, and forthright book describes the very latest information on high-tech conception, with information on techniques of fertilization, the latest research, and the nature and risks of the potent drugs used to assist in fertilization and implantation. Its goal is to help infertile individuals become informed consumers by describing the different procedures, and showing them how to interpret and compare clinics' claimed success rates; examine the factors that affect success; critically assess the safety of the different techniques both for the mothers and the babies born through such procedures; and understand the importance of genetic screening in in vitro fertilization.

Five million couples in the US are said to want a baby but can't conceive one without help. An increasing number of specialists are responding to their predicaments through techniques of high-tech conception--that is, a procedure requiring removal of eggs from the ovaries. Kearney's handbook provides potential high-tech customers with information for critically assessing the potentials and risks of the various techniques. He outlines the limits of present knowledge and explains how to evaluate claims made in ads, the media, and scientific reports. Since the high-tech conception field is highly competitive, making evaluations is vital to achieving the desired outcome. Kearney navigates an alphabet soup that includes hCG and FSH (both drugs) and ROSI and SUZI (treatments for male-factor infertility) as he imparts useful information on techniques and the drugs that can be used at different stages of them. He also advises on choosing a physician and a clinic, and he points out that any long-term effects of high-tech conception are not yet known. William Beatty

From the Inside Flap

Five million Americans want children but cannot conceive. One million couples seek infertility treatment every year, almost always without prior knowledge of the physical, emotional, and financial costs of high-tech conception (as a rule it is not covered by insurance), and without any way to judge the hard-sell come-ons of what is now a $2-billion, for-profit, unregulated industry that preys on their desperate hopes by promising outcomes that are all too rarely successful. This authoritative, lucid, balanced, and forthright book describes the very latest information on high-tech conception, with information on techniques of fertilization, the latest research, and the nature and risks of the potent drugs used to assist in fertilization and implantation. Its goal is to help infertile individuals become informed consumers by describing the different procedures, and showing them how to interpret and compare clinics' claimed success rates; examine the factors that affect success; critically assess the safety of the different techniques both for the mothers and the babies born through such procedures; and understand the importance of genetic screening in in vitro fertilization.